Tuesday, August 27, 2013

I have a long meeting at work, in Korean. Wanna hang out?

I'm at a meeting at my university for the whole faculty. It was strongly recommended that we attend, to boost the reputation of the English faculty (participating as members of the uni faculty, solidarity, unity, lalalala). The meeting is entirely in Korean. I have understood about a collective minute of what's been said. Such is life. Hours of our day spent at a meeting we can't understand, all for appearances. To be respectful. Stuff like this is not at all uncommon.

Logic. I don't understand, but it's what's expected. This is a typical moment of life as an English teacher in Korea. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

As a result, I've got some free time for a blog post! Welcome, friends. Pull up a chair.

Fun observation- there are two free-standing air conditioners turned on in the front corners of the auditorium. If you've ever studied (or thought about) HVAC systems, you know that it's completely inefficient and ineffective to service an entire auditorium with one a/c in each corner. And yet!! This is so common! It's AUGUST, y'all. For the love of holy things, why are the two measly air cons set to 28 degrees Celsius? We are sitting in the back, out of air con range, and sweating. I could rant on and on about the HVAC m.o. in this country, but I'll leave it at that.

Yesterday I went to another meeting (in English) at work and I got to sit down in my cubicle for the first time since June. My chair is comfy. My box is home. I kinda missed it.

School starts at JJU next Monday. I have 4 preps this semester, meaning 4 separate classes for which I get to prepare lessons. I teach beginner freshman conversation, intermediate freshmen conversation, advanced freshmen conversation, and intermediate sophomore conversation. I even got a prep day this semester! I'm pretty stoked about that! All conversation classes this time- this will be fun!

It's kinda strange to think about most of the time... Y'all, I teach adults. 19-20 year olds, but they're adults. Half the time (or more) I feel like I'm faking it. I hardly feel like an adult myself most of the time! I put on my grown-up clothes and glasses (to pretend to be a little more professional), grab my laptop bag and off to class I go! I have power point slides and a pretty effective "teacher look." I have been practicing.

*Kind of* is completely accurate. When does adulthood start to feel normal? In your 40's? Is that when you feel like a real one? Not like you're an impersonator?

Fake it til you make it. Life motto.

*28 in Korean age. Good knight. It makes things more interesting, cause your international age and Korean age are a year or two different, depending on when in the year your birthday falls. By the time I hit "real" 30, I will have been 31 in Korean for a full year. So whatevs. Age is just a number, right? A number I often ignore.

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This meeting is super fun.

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I have slept through my alarm 2 mornings in a row and still got up by 6:30 am. Win!

I don't know how I became a morning person, but I love it! I get so much done before 8 am. If you would've told me a couple of months ago that I would like waking up early, I would have thought you were nuts. I'm a reformed night owl. I've been converted.

This morning I tried to find a new exercise class across town in Jeonju. I got superbly lost. I'm sooo good with directions... Not. I had a nice time be-bopping around an area of the city that I hadn't ever explored, though, so that's a bonus! I like nice drives. Windows rolled down because the weather was lovely. It's finally cool again in the early mornings- oh happy day!

Speaking of driving: in the past 18 hours, I have very nearly rear-ended a Lexus and been rear-ended by a huge truck. Both would have been disastrous. Hey Lexus, YOU CAN'T JUST STOP IN AN INTERSECTION. IT'S NOT A PARKING LOT. Put on your flashers at least. Jeez.

I passed this again this morning. This window display always makes me nervous. If you are leaning back like that, it should be to rappel down a cliff, right? If you are rappelling down a cliff and your rope is slack like that, you might die, or at the very least you'd fall pretty hard. Clearly this display was meant to make me shudder. It definitely doesn't make me want to buy that equipment. Death? no thanks. Marketing fail.

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Ok I better go. My battery is going low on me. Thanks for hanging out with me! Only 2 more hours til we break for lunch. I have understood 10 words in the past 30 minutes of speakers. Hooray! Progress!!!

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I'm a Texan living in South Korea. I'm passionate about my faith, food, the great outdoors, and students. Jesus and coffee will get me through anything. I use the word "favorite" loosely. You should probably know I change my mind more often than my clothes. Welcome to my life.